or taken upon him the unfallen and glorious nature of the first of our species. But no! such was not the Eternal counsel! Not God and angel-not God and Adam-but God and our disorganized nature, were joined together in one! The whole Bible declares to us that it so happened. Oh, unutterable mystery! The Eternal become a creature of time! The Unapproachable, an object which we have seen with our eyes, looked upon, and handled! The Lord of lords, a brother and a relative of miserable sinners! The All-holy One, a partaker of our misery, and a sojourner in our vale of tears! The Disposer of every creature tended by a mortal mother! The Consoler of all affliction weeping with those that weep, and suffering along with them! The Thunderer amidst the clouds, at whose reproof the heavens tremble—a lisping, stammering child on the bosom of the Virgin! And He who gives life and breath to all, become for our sakes needy and helpless—an infant requiring the hands of men to guide him, and the love of a mother to watch over him! All this is now clear as day; it is the perfection and the crown of the wonders of God! Here we stand upon a height beyond which neither the spirit of man nor of seraph can soar! And this incarnation of God did not take place merely in appearance; it took place in deed and in truth, and is now an historical fact. In order to believe and comprehend it, one must be God himself, or else a simple child; yet, whether it is believed or not, let us still cry Hallelujah! for we know that it has been done!

This God become man is not the Eternal Father himself, but the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. Therefore Micah says, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting;" meaning, out of the essence of the Father. He was from eternity with the Father, distinct from the Father, and yet one with him:

the living image of his glory, perfection, and beauty; and therefore the eternal object of his love. And, oh wonder of wonders! it entered into the Father's heart to send this, his only-begotten Son, into our sinful world! The fact of his incarnation seems almost incomprehensible, did not the unutterable compassion of God solve the mystery; for never did the light of the countenance of God shine so benignantly over the benighted earth as in the promise and sending of his beloved Son. The doors of his fatherly heart had never before been so opened to receive us as they now were in Bethlehem; and all the past love which had been shown us since the beginning of the world, seems, in comparison of this, as the first glimmer of the morning dawn to the full blaze of the noon-day sun. Hitherto a faint and distant prelude had been heard, until at Bethlehem a full burst of harmony proceeded from a thousand voices. And now we may ask the question, What induced the Father to send us his only and well-beloved Son? It was enough that he willed to save us. And wherefore did he will to save us? Because he pitied us. Why did he pity us? Because we were lost. Why did the fact that we were lost touch his heart with compassion? Because he loved us. Why did he love us? Because he saw us already in Christ, whom he purposed to send. Why did he behold us in Christ and not in our sins? Because otherwise he must have destroyed us. And why did he not destroy us? Because he did not will it. We now stand at the boundary of all human knowledge and comprehension. This love, which made him resolve to give his Son for us, had its origin in himself; and was like the tones of an Æolian harp, which, without being touched by human hand, gives forth sweet melody. But no! this is not a just comparison; there is always a cause for the music of this harp, though it should only be the faintest breath of air playing among

its strings. The love of God, on the contrary, was like nothing in this world; for every thing here below has its origin in something, while this kindled of its own accord, and, if I may so speak, was caused by itself. This love we now behold surmounting all those impediments which our sins opposed to its progress-illuminating Bethlehem's night with its sunny splendour-rendering the whole earth bright with its rays, and transforming the death and darkness in which the world had been plunged into happiness and light. This love resembles a mysterious sea,—an unfathomable ocean; you may throw the lead, but here no bottom is to be found. Use telescope after telescope, and still you search for coast and shore in vain; and I think that the view of Adam's paradise, or the heaven which was opened before Stephen, could scarcely be so enrapturing as a glance into this depth of compassion,—into the love of Jehovah's heart; and I think that to bask in the rays of this love would be far better than to lie in the pool of Bethesda, or to dwell in the tabernacles of Tabor.

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"Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah," cries Micah, "out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel!" "To me shall he come forth, says the prophet; and this me is not merely uttered by Jehovah, in whose name Micah prophesies, but it is an expression from the very heart of the prophet. Micah thus appears to us in the act of raising up a standard of rebellion; he resolves no longer to serve his hereditary lords-Satan, the world, and the flesh; he renounces his allegiance to them, and awaits another Prince, under whose government he will be ruled. It is to his banners he summons you to-day, my brethren! Shake from off your necks the yoke of slavery! Tear your souls away from the grasp of the enemy! Set yourselves in open warfare against Satan, whose chains you now wear; against the world that holds you captive; against sin, that

murderous serpent; and against the spirit of this backsliding, antichristian age; and bow the knee to him who comes to you in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth. Bethink yourselves, however, that it is a whole and perfect sacrifice which you must offer up to this Prince; there must be no reservation, or you are unfit to enter his kingdom. Here there is only one question," Lord, what dost thou require? Is it my heart? it is here. My body? it is consecrated to Thee. My gold and silver? use it according to thy good pleasure. My temporal happiness? I sacrifice it, if it is thy will. My darling plans? I offer them up upon thy altar!" If ye can utter from your hearts language such as this, then the gates of heaven shall

be open to you. Jesus himself inspires us with them;

he himself loosens our tongues. An angel now accosts us on the path with the Christmas salutation, "Behold! I bring you good tidings of great joy!" And we ourselves can rejoice with Micah, and say, "O Bethlehem Ephratah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, who shall be Israel's Lord, Israel's Saviour, and Israel's messenger of peace!" Amen.

F

THE PROMISES.

ROM. IV. 19-21.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform.

OUR views to-day reach beyond our text. It is not of Abraham's faith in the promises made to him that we mean to speak; but of the promises of God in general, and of the relation in which we stand to them. And, oh, may our contemplations on this all-important subject both console and enliven us! Let us direct our attention to the promises themselves; let us then ask what we have to do with them; and, lastly, let us consider what we generally do.

I. Who does not know that we live under a dispensation of promises? The divine promises include all that is good for us, and all that we could desire. The christian life is based upon them, and they form the spring of our peace, our joy, our power, and our strength. The expectations with which we console ourselves, invigorate us like the breezes of the morning, and if we are happy, it is through hope. The ways through which we receive the divine promises are